Cash at judge’s house: Supreme Court-appointed panel submits report to CJI Khanna

The Supreme Court-appointed three-judge committee has submitted its report on the inquiry into the alleged discovery of unaccounted cash at the residence of the then Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma on March 14 to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.

Based on the March 24 recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, Justice Varma was on March 28 transferred to his parent high court, i.e., the Allahabad High Court where he has not been assigned any judicial work “for the time being”.

“The three-member Committee consisting of Mr Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Mr Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and Ms Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, constituted for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge, has submitted its report dated 03.05.2025 to the Chief Justice of India on 04.05.2025,” read a statement issued by Supreme Court on Monday.

The report contained the committee’s findings on the alleged cash discovery during a fire incident at Justice Varma’s Delhi residence around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the fire officials to rush to the spot and douse it. The exact contents of the report were not known.

The three-member panel was set up by CJI Khanna after receiving an initial report from Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya on the allegations against Justice Varma. Now, further course of action against him was likely to be decided on the basis of the latest report.

If the three-judge committee indicts Justice Varma, the CJI can advise him to resign or to seek voluntary retirement. However, if the judge in question ignores his advice, the CJI would intimate the President and the Prime Minister of the committee’s findings, warranting initiation of proceedings for his removal.

In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court had on March 22 released the probe report submitted by Delhi High Court Chief along with Justice Varma’s response denying the allegations.

In his response, Justice Varma had said, “I state unequivocally that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous.”

The top court had also uploaded on its website the documents, including photos and video substantiating the allegations of the discovery of unaccounted currencies at Justice Varma’s residence. The videos and photographs were taken by the Delhi Police during the firefighting operation on March 14.

However, the latest report of the three-member inquiry panel has yet to be made public.